Kirsty Fairweather Photography

Photography is a craft built on patience, precision and an eye for fleeting detail. The work below comes from a portrait and lifestyle photographer whose practice centres on capturing people and moments with a calm, observational approach.

Behind the camera

The image was made with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, a full-frame digital SLR that has long been a favourite among portrait and wedding photographers for its dependable autofocus and rich colour rendering.

The technical choices behind the shot were deliberate rather than automatic. The photographer worked in fully manual mode, setting both the exposure and the programme dial by hand, which allows complete control over how light and motion are recorded.

The exposure settings

• Focal length: 70 mm — a short telephoto length that flatters faces and compresses background detail without the need to stand far back
• Shutter speed: 1/160 second — fast enough to freeze natural movement and avoid camera shake at this focal length
• Aperture: f/18 — a narrow opening that produces a deep depth of field, keeping foreground and background alike in sharp focus
• ISO: 250 — a low sensitivity setting that keeps digital noise to a minimum
• Exposure bias: 0 EV — no compensation applied, so the metered reading was trusted as it stood
• Metering: spot — the exposure was judged from a single small area of the frame, useful when the subject sits against a brighter or darker background
• Flash: not fired, with the camera set to compulsory flash mode

The resulting file

The finished photograph measures 3360 by 4320 pixels, a portrait-oriented frame with a 4:5 aspect ratio. The original file is 6.14 MB and is stored as a JPEG in the sRGB colour space, the standard used for images destined for screens and general printing. The file was last modified on 9 February 2024.

Why these details matter

For anyone learning photography, a single set of exposure data can be more instructive than pages of theory. This example shows how a narrow aperture, modest ISO and a moderate telephoto length combine to produce a clean, evenly focused portrait. It also demonstrates the value of manual control: every decision was made by the photographer rather than the camera.

The photograph itself is part of a wider portfolio of portrait and session work, covering everything from family and newborn sittings to individual commissions.